High Speed 1 (originally called The Channel Tunnel Rail Link or CTRL), is a 69-mile stretch of railway linking the Channel Tunnel and St Pancras station in London. Built at a cost of £5.2 billion, the line was opened on 14th November 2007, cutting Eurostar journey times by 40 minutes, compared with the previous route which was shared with local trains, restricting the speed severely. Trains travel at speeds up to 140mph on the high speed line.

In June 2010 the government put the line up for sale for £1.5 billion.